“Philips maintains constant evaluation of all its business activities to ensure optimum performance and the decision to divest this business was made in response to the long-​term evolution taking place within luminaires manufacturing.”

Sue W on
July 7th, 2014 at 3:43:

Excellent article. Such plants were where industry went after they left the NE US and Canada. There are still swathes of devastation remaining.

I met that guy in a previous life. On a Thursday, my colleague asked him if we were going to be open on Monday. He looked us in the eye and said “business as usual”. When told “business as usual” meant we get paid on Friday, have a weekend, and come back to work on Monday, he once again looked us in the eye and repeated, “business as usual”. The owner had taken a buyout check and disappeared and we were shut down on Friday. 150+ of us were out of work.

Stories like this no longer illicit sympathy and understanding from many Americans. They are now fodder for others who say things like “See, you’re lucky to have a job”.

Sue W on
July 7th, 2014 at 15:06:

@Rob: You get to recognize the signs. These fools treat you like children (or cattle) instead of grown-ups. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were open and honest about it.

The last time, I called people together and told them the bad news as soon as I found out. Breaking ranks and insubordination; so sue me. We were all out of work anyway and the idiots wanted to manage the message!

It is interesting how some people put it down to chance instead of a elitist conspiracy by the Illuminati. Or to uncontrolled greed and a lack of connection of the ownership of capital to the surrounding community.

I think it’s the result of conglomerates of conscienceless corporatist MBAs taking over the world, but that’s probably the same thing

Rumors were swirling all around us for weeks, Sue, but we were kept on the job and kept in line by lies from above. We had the owner telling us we would be around for a long time, that we were not for sale, and that all of the rumors were untrue. Grounds for dismissal for employees but standard operating procedure for ownership. Learned my share of life lessons on that job so I guess some would think I should thank them.

Loved the BS about increasing productivity and lower wages to keep their jobs. Pathetic! The solution is political. American workers are being conned by their government. Time to clean house (and senate and president and supreme aholes too).